In a number of supermarkets the checkouts are operated in a manner whereby one takes one's purchases to the checkout in a trolley and the checkout assistant, after ringing up the item on the cash register or passing it over a bar coder, places it into another trolley. After the sale is complete the purchaser is handed a number of plastic bags into which to place the goods, then take the trolley full of goods and bags to an area away from the checkout to pack the goods in order to take them away. Whilst this simplifies the job of the checkout assistant in busy, crowded supermarkets which operate in this manner it increases the workload of the purchaser who must then unload the trolley and reload the goods into bags. This situation is undesirable for busy shoppers.
It is an object of the invention to ameliorate the abovementioned disadvantages.